Enochians
by BrOwNiEfOx
Summary: Castiel is a hunter whose brother has been bothering him to 'get some company'. Dean, or 'Emerald', is an Enochian, a descendant of a fallen angel, and is treated like a common pet. All he wants is to find his brother. And being bought by Castiel may just give him that chance.
1. Chapter 1

A long time ago, there were angels. They all lived together peacefully and happily with their father, God. Then, God created people and told the angels to love them above all things, including him. One of his eldest sons, however, disagreed. He told his Father that there was no way he could possibly love anything more than him. So his father told his eldest son, Michael, to cast out the other. The other son was thrown down into Hell, into a Cage that he hoped would never be opened.

The sons name was Lucifer.

A civil war broke out in Heaven. Angels fighting angels, killing their own kind. It was horrible. The angels who agreed with Lucifer were demanding he be released. The angels that believed the right thing had been done refused, and fought against them.

And some angels, some angels were caught in the middle.

They were forced to watch as their sibling slaughtered each other. They wept as their brothers and sisters fell every day. An archangel, Gabriel, was pained the most out of all of them. One day, he couldn't bear it any longer. Those angels that sided with him agreed that they could not stand by and watch this. So they didn't.

Together, the angels that sided with Gabriel followed him as he left Heaven. They all fell to the Earth. Their fall, however, was different than Lucifer's, different than any other angel's. As they fell, their wings became visible. Their angelic powers were weakened. And, as time passed, their descendents life spans even started to shorten until it was about the same as the average human being.

Fast forward to the year 2014. Hunters are still around, still hunting beasts that most people don't believe exist. However, there is one monster that the public knew about. They were these fallen angels, called by the humans Enochians. They were bought like slaves or pets, adored for their beautiful feathers and amazing strength.

***Castiel***

I walked around the pet store in an extremely bored manner. My brother, Balthazar, kept insisting that I get some company, that I shouldn't live alone. I know that Balthazar probably had women in mind when he said that, but I couldn't. For one thing, I am a Hunter, I can't get close to anybody or else I will just have my heart shattered when they died. So Il figured I could get a pet and call it even, maybe a Doberman or something that could be useful during a Hunt.

As I neared the back of the store, whistles and chirps caught my attention. Heading over, a large bird cage covered the entire back wall. Held inside were a group of Enochians. It was divided down the middle, with the females on the left and the males on the right. They all had vibrant plumage, nearly all doing something. Whether it was flying around, cleaning their wings, or talking in their little chirps and high-pitched screeching noises to their friends, all were active. All except one.

One was simply sitting on a branch of the fake tree. The branch was near the corner, and hid him from the lights, though he was still visible. He had brown-blonde hair. His wings were tucked tightly into his back, making it hard to see them. The few feathers I could see matched his hair color.

"Looking for an Enochian?" One of the workers came over. I shrugged.

"My brother seems to think I'm too lonely for my own good." The woman nodded.

"A pet will help with that. Well, let's see what we can do. Ava! John!" Two of the Enochians looked up from whatever they were doing and flew down so that they stood as close to us as they could. One was a girl, Josephine I assumed, and the other was John. They both stood on opposite lines of the barrier dividing the males and females. Ava had curly brown hair and brown eyes. Like all the other females, she wore shorts and top specially designed to let her wings fit through it. John had short brown hair that was dark enough to almost be considered black. He, too, had brown eyes. John wore only a pair of jeans, his chest bare, as all the males' were.

"John and Josephine and two of our best Enochians. Well trained and good mannered, they follow orders well. They're even great around other people and Enochians." I nodded. I felt like I was getting into a bit more than I wanted. I really didn't want a pet in the first place. A cat or dog would be hard enough, I don't think I could manage what was nearly an entire other person. "And the asking price is a low 2000 dollars."

I wasn't surprised by the price. Enochians were well liked and those who could afford them often bought many for the sole purpose of watching them in their beauty. Some people were known to buy acres of land that were dedicated to an environment for the Enochians.

"What about him?" Why was I asking that? I didn't really know. But now I was pointing to the Enochian I had seen earlier. The worker made a face, but whistled anyway.

"Emerald! Emerald, get over here now!" The Enochian, Emerald presumably, didn't move. "Emerald, you don't want a reoccurrence of last time!"Finally, Emerald grudgingly got to his feet. I couldn't help but gasp and little and gape as his wings, which had seemed so small when they were behind his back, folded out and revealed that he had what was undoubtedly the largest wingspan in the cage. I was now able to see that a few of his feathers were a vibrant green. They then folded back up, and by the glare the worker was giving Emerald, it was obvious that Emerald did this often, being a show off.

Emerald nimbly made his way down from his perch. John and Ava had gone back to whatever they had been doing before. Emerald took the spot the John had been standing it. His arms were folded and he obviously was unamused by both me and the worker. His eyes, which were a green to match the feathers on his wings, looked me over. He blinked, and his eyes grew a painfully sharp and bright green before returning to their normal color.

"Emerald here, well, you'd think he'd sell easily." The worker explained. "But he's stubborn as a mule. The aviary that used to own him sold him to us when he became too hard to handle. You don't see many with wings as large as his." I nodded, mostly just to give some form of response. I don't know what took over me. Maybe it was because I just wanted to get this whole shopping thing over with, or if it was because I had always had a certain fascination with Enochians, but the words that came out of my mouth surprised both the worker and me.

"How much is he?"

"Uh, he's… $500."

"I'll take him." As I said it, the rational part of my mind was screaming at me that this was insane. Too late to back out now though, the worker was already taking me to get some papers signed.

What had I just gotten myself into?

***DEAN***

Humans can call me whatever they want. I don't really care. But for the record, my name isn't 'Emerald', its Dean. That's the name my mom gave me when I was born.

I was born out in wild, where Enochians fly freely in the sky. My mom had been captured by humans when I was young. 10 or so years later, so was I. Fast-forward my life from there and now I'm in the pet shop, glaring at the people who think we're just pets. They think we don't understand them too. Well, here's some news for you: we can speak dog, cat, insect, bird, practically any language on this green Earth a few that aren't. We can speak any of their languages if we really wanted to.

It had been another day. I was sitting in my corner, trying to plan an escape, when a guy walked over, looking at my brothers and sisters (I wasn't related to any, really, but that's how we all thought of each other). The man's eyes even picked out me for a moment, before a worker came over and started talking to him. I made a face. I hated all the workers here. They only viewed me as a problem. I'm pretty sure they're trying to find a way to get me 'put down', like I'm some common animal.

After a moment, he called Ava and John over. Ava and John were the two most loyal and benevolent Enochians in here. If any humans tell them to jump, Ava and John ask how high. Well, they would if they were willing to let humans know they can speak English. At least they have the common sense to do that.

Then the man looked at me again, pointing at me. The worker got a sour look on his face. I smirked a bit as I realized that the man must have asked to look at me.

"Emerald!" The worker called. "Emerald, get over here now!" I rolled my eyes. I wasn't some dog he could just call and I'd come running. "Emerald you don't want a reoccurrence of last time!" Was that supposed to be a threat? A couple of cattle prods, knives, and tazers were nothing for an Enochian. We can heal from almost anything the world can throw at us. Never the less, I got to my feet. Looking at the new guy, I decided to put on a show, stretching my wings out. I hadn't even unfurled them completely. I chuckled at the wide-eyed and awestruck look on the man's face. I tucked my wings back in and made my way down the fake tree until I was standing in front of them.

As the man looked me over, I did the same to him. I could care less about his appearance, but I still made a note of it. The man had dark hair and sky-blue eyes. He wore a trench coat and a suit underneath that. I then lowered my eyes onto the celestial level, where I could see people's souls. The man, Castiel as his soul read, was obviously a Hunter. Hunter's had a very distinct soul. There were darks spots that came from killing, but the majority of the soul was light and pure, filled with good intention.

"Emerald here, well, you'd think he'd sell easily." The worked started saying and I rolled my eyes. He gave the same speech to everyone that asked about me. "But he's stubborn as a mule. The aviary that used to own him sold him to us when he became too hard to handle. You don't see many with wings as large as his." The man nodded. I ruffled my wings a bit, waiting for the man to walk away, deciding to buy a more friendly and tame Enochian.

Between the three of us (me, the worker, and the man) I don't know which was more surprised by what happened next.

"How much is he?"

"Uh, he's… $500."

"I'll take him." I was being bought. That was certainly something new. I was caught in a whirlwind of emotions. Part of me was ecstatic that I was finally free of this cage and that there was something different in my extremely boring life. Another part was disgusted that I was something being sold to another being, viewed as a simple pet that could be tamed and kept. And yet another was wondering if this could be my chance. My chance to find the one person that mattered to me in the mess that was supposed to be my life:

Sam, my brother.

***CASTIEL***

My brain was pretty much imploding at this point.

I am leaving the pet shop. And on the other end of a leash is Emerald. Before they had let me leave with him, they had bound up his wings. The workers explained that they usually didn't do this, but Emerald was extremely reckless. Emerald had been put out by this, and his hands kept going back and touching the binding, his wings shifting underneath them in a manner that clearly said that they were uncomfortable.

I led Emerald over to my car, an Impala I had inherited from my dad after he died on a hunt. Getting Emerald into the car proved to be difficult. His wings just wouldn't fit comfortable into the car. After a few tries, he just gave me a shrug and climbed on top of the car. I sighed in defeat. I had seen Enochians doing that before, in fact it wasn't uncommon to be driving down the road and see on top of at least one car a winged figure. I had always felt that it wasn't quite right, but I had little choice now.

I drove down to some hotel, figuring I could stay here for a night or two as I got used to have A FREAKING ENOCHIAN LIVING WITH ME before looking for another hunt. When I reached the hotel, I'll admit I was surprised to find Emerald still on top of the car. I would've thought he would try and escape; that had been the perfect opportunity to make a bid for freedom. At the desk I had to ask for a room make specifically for people that owned Enochians. It cost a bit more than I liked too.

The room was far larger than I was used to. It had to be, since even an average Enochians wings were at least 1 ½ times their size. The part of the room for the owner was just about the size of a normal hotel room. It had a bed, a dresser, a TV, a bathroom, not really anything special. The majority of the room was for the Enochian. That part was section off by a few bars. There was a hammock for instead of a bed. In the back was a very large tub so that it was easier to clean the wings. Not to mention, a lot of the room was simply dedicated to room for the wings to move around.

Emerald slipped into the area, taking a look around and trying out the hammock. I set my bag of things I had bought while at the pet store on the table looking through it.

"Emerald." I called him over. He looked up from his comfortable position in the hammock and came over. I took out the collar. It was green, since that seemed to be a theme for him, and made of a sturdy material that Enochians couldn't easily break. Enochians are, after all, stronger than humans. Along with the collar was a leash, not the sad excuse that had come with Emerald, but a metal chain.

I put the collar around Emerald, whose feathers immediately stuck up in agitation. They quickly smoothed out though when he was me grab the scissors and walk over to his wings, cutting off the bindings. I got out of the way just in time to avoid colliding with the wings as they spread back out. They had to be at least three times his height, probably even longer. I reached out and touched them gently, but as my fingers just barely touched them before the wings abruptly snapped back onto Emerald's back. He glared at me furiously.

"Uh, sorry." I apologized. Emerald made a sharp, bird-like noise back to his part of the room. I sighed. This was going to be so much work. I reached into the bag and grabbed out a book about taking care of Enochians. Before I could get past he first page, however, my cell phone rang.

"Hello?"

"Hey Cas. I need some back up on a hunt. I'm somewhere in the forest at the edge of town. Thanks!" Balthazar hung up quickly. His voice had been coming in gasps, like he was running. I swore. Because my day wasn't bad enough already. I turned to Emerald, who was looking at with interest.

"Looks like I get to take you on your first hunt today."


	2. Chapter 2

**BrOwNiEfOx: A special thanks out there for my reviewers. I've seen people respond to each one individually, but I've never done that before. I think I'll try it out for once though.**

**BookAddict67: Okay, so people know about Enochians because some civilian stumbled across them a few hundred years ago on an expedition. Since Enochians are nearly as destructive as monsters, that person got away with their life. Word spread about the creatures he saw, one thing led to another, and now they're pets. As for all the other monsters in the world, most people don't know about them.**

**Guest: Thanks! I was going to see if anybody liked this story and then decide if I was going to continue it. Looks like I'll be writing at the very least one more chapter (if my muse doesn't die first).**

**And now, to the story!**

***DEAN***

So here was my plan: play the good, loyal pet that I was expected to be. Then, once Castiel's guard was down, I'd make a break for it. If I timed my escape just right, with my wings being as strong and powerful as they are, I could probably be a few miles away before he even realized I was gone.

Right now, I'm fulfilling part 'a' of the plan.

I still had to ride on top of the car, but that was fine with me. This time, however, Castiel had used his new leash to chain me to the car. I hope he knew that I could probably lift the car off the ground with my wings, had done so before, and wouldn't hesitate to do so if his soul took a nasty turn to the dark side. I reached up and yanked slightly at my collar. Green. Of course it was green. Had it never occurred to people that there was more to me than green? Not to mention it was just so demeaning to have to wear.

When we came to the woods, Castiel parked the car on the side of the road. He got out and unclipped the chain from the car, keeping it in his hand.

"C'mon Emerald, we need to see what my brother got himself into this time." Maybe I should just tell him my name is Dean. It'd probably be worth losing one of my ace cards for. Castiel led me into the forest, hand gripping the other end of the chain tightly. We walked aimlessly for a while. And it was getting us nowhere. Finally, I rammed into Castiel. He hadn't been expecting it, with all his senses working on the rest of the environment. His hand let go of the chain and I immediately jumped onto a branch of a tree. Castiel started yelling at me, but I ignored him. If we did this his way, this brother of his won't live to be saved. And no one's dying on my watch.

I focused my Grace, spreading it out through the forest, stretching myself over miles. I could smell every scent going through woods. The smell of pine and oak… and human blood. I could feel the forest underneath me. Every shift through the trees and the ground. I could feel the foots steps of a man pounding through the pine needles and dirt. I could see everything. The squirrels running from branch to branch, a bear coming home to feed her cubs. The human with blonde spiky hair and sharp blue eyes. I could hear everything. I could hear the birds talking about the weather. I could hear ants and chipmunks complaining about the human running through their territory. The man's labored breaths reached my ears.

I had missed this feeling.

Castiel, who had been attempting to climb but was having a hard time finding a foothold, looked up when I gave out a high-pitched screech. I could guess that it sounded almost electronic to human ears. To any Enochian, though, they would've heard a loud and clear 'FOUND HIM!' ring through the air.

"Emerald!" Castiel called out as I started to go from tree to tree, a bit of my Grace still watching over his brother, tracking him. I ignored Castiel yelling for me to stop. The monster chasing the other man, or more specifically a vampire, was only getting closer. The feeling of being free almost got away with me. I nearly jumped straight past the man, my wings begging to get above the tree tops, to prove that they could still carry my with and bring me above the world. But I kept it together. When I reached them (or a little in front of them) I launched myself out of the tree, tackling the vampire to the ground.

Castiel's brother turned around at the noise, stopping dead when he saw me. Meanwhile, I was trying to hold down the struggling vampire, who was brandishing his fangs. The only thing close to a weapon I had on me was my leash, and that had been twisted to the back of my collar. I grimaced when I realized that I had to act now, which left me with only one choice. Pulling my arm back, I thrust it forward, plunging it through his heart and smashing it on the ground. I brought it back out of his chest, shaking it and flicking blood around before turning to the man

A quick glance at his soul gave me his name: Balthazar. His soul was that of the average hunter with a certain brightness when it came to his brother. He was a really good person. I'm glad I saved him. Well, Castiel's still some ways away. The best way to get the two together would be Enochian-air.

"An Enochian. Huh. Last time I checked, they're not native here. Not to mention you've got that nifty collar around your neck. So who's your owner?" Balthazar mused as I approached him. I grabbed him around the waist, which was immediately followed by protests, and unfurled my wings. It would be hard to maneuver through the trees, but I couldn't just jump from branch to branch with him struggling like this. I'd drop him or something. Humans are such fragile things.

*CASTIEL*

"Stupid Enochian." I grumbled as I made my way through the forest. Maybe I should have kept his wings bound. Or maybe I should have been keeping a better eye on him. Or maybe I shouldn't have bought him in the first place. I trekked onward. Balthazar better be in real danger, because that was $500 dollars that I wasn't getting back. Balthazar better be okay too. He was the last of my blood family after all.

The world around me suddenly grew silent. I looked around, drawing my sawed-off shotgun. All the life around me had stopped. They obviously sensed something coming. Looking ahead of me, I could see a small dot, twisting this way and that through the trees. As the dot grew larger, I recognized the green feathers. I also recognized the squirming bundle he was holding.

"Balthazar!" I called out. "Emerald!" The Enochian landed down in front of me, dropping Balthazar unceremoniously on the ground.

"Castiel, there you are. You won't believe what happened." Balthazar climbed to his feet. "Glad you got my call. I was taking out a vampire nest. Don't give me that look, I got most of them. There was one that I missed. He started chasing me all over this forest. Then, out of nowhere, this guy literally drops in and punches the vamp's heart out." Balthazar patted Emerald, who crossed his arms and smirked. I got the feeling he knew I had doubted him. "Can't wait to meet this guy's owner."

"That would be, uh, me." I shifted nervously, grabbing the chain.

"You bought an Enochian?" Balthazar seemed genuinely shocked.

"Hey, you're the one that said I was 'too lonely' and 'needed company'." I reminded him.

"I was talking about getting a girl, showing her a good time." Balthazar waved his hands around. "Not getting you a new pet."

"Well I'm sorry, but you know I'm hopeless when it comes to women." I didn't see the big deal.

"Cas, you need to get over Meg."

"I _am _over Meg!" I snapped. Yeah, great job Cas, that's convincing.

"No, you're not, and you know you're not. After she died on that hunt, you've closed yourself off from any part of the world that doesn't have to do with Hunting." We had had this discussion half a million times. "But anyways, there was another reason I called you. Bobby called right before I took out the nest. He has a case. Says it's big. Rounding up all of his best hunters for it. And he wants you and me on the team. I already told him I'm in, what about you?"

"What's the case?"

"He didn't say." I took a deep breath and finally remembered Emerald was here. He was watching the exchange with… was that longing? I thought about how he had looked when we had entered the woods, like something in him had woken up, every part of him seeming to fit in like the missing piece to a puzzle. Those years that he had been locked up must have been his personal Hell.

"I'll take it."

*DEAN*

The ride to Bobby's was a long one. Sometimes, when I got bored, I'd open up my wings up and bit and let them fill with air. The car would go rock onto the back two wheels. Balthazar would laugh from his car and Castiel would shout up at me. Ah, brothers, what I wouldn't do to have my own back. At one point during the drive, I got caught up in a memory. It was when Sam got bought.

The aviary had really been a nice place, nicer than the pet shop. It was a top-notch place that only had the best Enochians. There were real trees there, other animals that roamed through the habitat. I was there because of how large my wingspan was and the vibrant colors of my feathers. I was even one of the favorites, one of the most gawked at. Sam was there because he was one of few, very special angels. Sam was born with two sets of wings. There were gold, red and brown, the brown matching his long hair. Of course, all four of his wings were normal sized, so at the end of the day the strength of our wings was equal. Sam also had visions. They only happened when a dire situation arose, and only about those people he was around and close to.

Anyways, it had been a very normal day. Sam was hanging out with a beautiful Enochian, Jessica. The humans called her Swan. There was good reason for the name. Her wings were pure white, like snow or a cloud. She had long, curly blonde hair and the beautiful, blue-green eyes. They kept spending more and more time together. I remember thinking that Sam was going to propose to her soon.

I had also noticed that, daily, a black man had started to watch Sammy. Every day, he'd come to the aviary and find where Sam was, watching him, observing. I didn't think much about it at first, of course. There were people who'd come and look at their favorite Enochians. In fact, there was this little girl, and every time she turned up, she'd find out where I was. I usually did some tricks for her. I'm a sucker for kids. But this guy, it was more stalker-ish.

So I had started stalking the stalker. It's not like it was particularly hard, the man wasn't hiding. Because I was watching him, I was one to see him call over Max, who worked here. Max was in charge of going into the actual aviary for manually checking out the Enochians. After the man and Max had a chat that included calling up the head-honcho of the place of the walkie-talkie, Max went over to one of the locked doors that led into the cages. He unlocked it and called out for Sam to get down. Obviously, I followed Sam out. Max knew I never left my brother, so he let me follow.

"This is the one you were looking at, right?" Max asked the man, leading us over to him. The man nodded. I took a look at his soul and snarled. His name was Gordon. Some part of his soul showed a normal Hunter, but there was also a darkness in it, a deep well of evil that made the animalistic part of me want to rip out his throat before be ripped out mine. I looked over at Sam, whose face was screwed up like he had smelt something bad. So he had seen the man's soul too.

"That's the one." Gordon nodded. "Roman said he had visions, right?" Gordon started to walk around Sam, inspecting his wings, grabbing his face to turn it this way and that, seeing what condition he was in. I growled and took a step forward, but Sam shook his head.

"It's okay Dean." Sam spoke in Enochian.

"No it's not. You saw this guy's soul. And it sounds like Dick gave him permission to _buy _you. You can't just sit by and let that happen, especially not when the guy is interested in your visions." I replied.

"Yeah, apparently." Gordon and Max continued their conversation.

"Then I'll take him. I already gave Roman my money." Gordon reached into the bag he had with him, pulling out a metal collar and a leash make out of strings of metal. As he went to put it around Sam, I jumped it the way, wings spread out so he couldn't get around me. The people who hadn't been staring at the exchange were now.

"Dean, it's okay. I'm psychic. I know it's not my forte, but I'm sure I could send you mental messages. If he does anything overly abusive, I'll tell you. I know you'll come and save me." Sam placed a hand on my shoulder.

"Sam, I can't just let him take you. You can see his soul. I just know he'll do terrible things to you."I told him sternly. I should have been watching Max. While all my focus was on being a barrier between Sam and Gordon, Max took out a needle and jabbed it into me, injecting its contents into my blood. I was out in seconds. The last thing I saw before the world faded to black was Gordon placing that collar around Sam's neck.

I was snapped out of my memories as the car slowed down. Finally looking at the world around me, I realized we were approaching a house, a sign outside of it saying 'Singer Salvage Yard'. Looks like we're here.

*CASTIEL*

Finally, we reached Bobby's place. I parked me car next to Balthazar's mustang. I saw several other cars parked outside too.

"Who else are we hunting with?" I asked Balthazar, unchaining the leash from the car and pulling Emerald off the hood. Balthazar gave me a shrug. I couldn't help but to notice Emerald started to look around. Hopefully some monster hadn't followed us, like another vampire that Balthazar missed or something.

"Other Hunters. I didn't really think it would be important to ask." I sighed. Balthazar wasn't always thinking about what was right or important. But he was my brother, and I doubted he would ever change. I didn't bother knocking, Bobby was expecting us. I could hear noises coming from the kitchen, so we headed there. In the kitchen were three people, each holding their own beer. One was obviously Bobby. The other two I didn't recognize.

The man was black with a mustache and black hair cut close to his head. He was currently laughing about something the other person, a woman, had said. Said woman had dirty blonde that went past her shoulders. She had the look of a hardened soldier, but her laugh was happy. A moment of joy in the life of a Hunter is a rare and special moment. As we entered the room, Bobby noticed us.

"There ya are. Sure took your time getting here." Bobby greeted us, eyes landing on Emerald. He, of course, put the puzzle pieces together. "You bought an Enochian, Cas?"

"It's a long story." I waved the question aside. "What's the case?"

"That's what I've been wondering since I got here." The woman spoke up. "Ellen Harvelle. You two must be Balthazar and Castiel Novak, Bobby's boys." I nodded, reaching out and shaking the offered hand.

"I'm Rufus Turner, Bobby and I go way back. He's been refusing to tell us what he called us here for." I shook Rufus's hand too. Balthazar followed suit.

"That's 'cause I don't want to repeat it." Bobby explained in his defense. "Ellen, call Jo and Ash."

"They can hear you just as easily as they can hear me." Ellen commented, but yelled anyway. "JO! ASH!" There was a flutter of strong wings outside accompanied by feet pounding on the ground. The back door opened up and after a few seconds, two more people entered the room. Scratch that, they're not people. They were both Enochians.

Jo, the girl, had long and curly blonde hair and brown eyes. Her wings were a shade off from black with gold specks littered across them. The boy, Ash, had brown hair in a mullet. His wings were a simple brown and appeared well groomed. However, unlike Jo and Emerald's wings, which were usually relaxed, ready for flight, _comfortable _on their back, Ash's wings were tightly pressed up against his back in a way that looked uncomfortable.

"Will you tell us why you called now?" Balthazar asked. "I had to ditch the Olsen twins in order to come here."

"As you all know, I called you here for a case." Everyone nodded, including the Enochians. I wonder how much they understand. "A Hunter came here the other day on his last leg. Quite literally, his other had been pulled off by a demon. He died from blood loss quickly after he got here. The Hunter told me that he had found out that the demons were planning something. He told me that they were after Excalibur."

"Whoa, wait, like the sword Excalibur?" Rufus asked, but Bobby shook his head.

"No. I trust you've all heard of the Enochian Excalibur." Everybody knew who Excalibur as. Everybody. Even civilians. Excalibur was the only Enochian that had been seen (and captured) with 6 wings. He was also the most powerful. Cuts on his body healed almost immediately. His voice could shatter not only glass, but metal. Some Hunters even believed that Excalibur was the Alpha of the Enochians, if you believed that they were just another type of monster.

"Why? What do they want with him?" Bobby shrugged at my question.

"I don't know. But we're not just dealing with some demons that have a random plan. The King of Hell is behind this. Crowley wants Excalibur, and I get the feeling that nothing is going to stop him from getting him. I can only think of one thing we can do, I need all of you in on this. You are the best hunters I know."

"What is it you need us to do?" Ellen asked.

"I need your help to kill him."


	3. Chapter 3

***DEAN***

Excalibur.

They were planning to kill Excalibur

I wonder how they like themselves burned to death, medium or well done.

By the looks the other two Enochians were giving me, they had the same thought in mind. I listened as the humans started to make plans. They would head out as a team to California. On the way there they would stop by some safety deposit boxes and take out any weapons they think would be helpful. I rolled my eyes. Killing a normal Enochian was hard. Killing what was supposed to be _the _most powerful Enochian that had existed would be near impossible. And they were Hunters. What could they do when there was no lore on us?

"Hey, can I check out your Enochian?" Ellen asked Castiel.

"Uh, sure. Go ahead. His name's Emerald." Ellen hummed in reply, grabbing me by the arm and pulling me outside, Jo and Ash following behind. When we were outside, Ellen continued to lead us some ways through the maze of cars in Bobby's yard. We only stopped when we were some ways away from house.

"Okay, so what's your real name?" I'll admit, this took me by surprise. I looked over at Jo and Ash, who were standing on either side of Ellen.

"Hey, it's okay, she knows we can speak English." Jo reassured me, speaking in English herself.

"You told her?" I went ahead and spoke English. It was some unspoken rule, though, not to let humans know out full potential.

"Hey, I was four when she got me. Obviously I wasn't going to speak Enochian my whole life." Jo said in her defense. I sighed in defeat, though a part of me was glad that there was some human I could speak to, other people that would know my real name and (hopefully) call me by it.

"Dean. My name's Dean." I replied. "So does that mean your names are really Jo and Ash?"

"Yeah. So tell me, how does an Enochian with wings like yours wind up as the pet of a Hunter?" Jo asked.

"Talent. Years and years of practiced talent. And of course being a pain, but that's part of the talent." I stretched out my wings. "What can I say? Even with wings like this, I can still make people regret ever meeting me."

"ELLEN!" Rufus's voice started to call through yard.

"I'll see you guys later. He probably needs me to help gather a few things together." Ellen patted my shoulder. "I'll go ahead and put in a word or two with Castiel, see if I can't persuade him to change your name." I grinned.

"Thanks." I watched as Ellen took off back down to the house. I turned to Jo, who was leaning up against a car, Ash leaning next to her. "So, were you born in captivity? You said that Ellen's had you since you were four." Jo shook her head.

"Nah, my mom died when I was really little though. Forest fire. Our home was burned down. My dad left as soon as he found out my mom was pregnant. I was three when she died. The rest of my flock couldn't take care of me as most of them were only teenagers, the majority of the adults burning to death under fallen trees and such. So they gave me to Ellen and her husband Anthony. He died on a hunting trip a few years back." I nodded in understanding.

"What about you?" I asked Ash.

"I was 14 when Ellen found me. I had been captured when I was 9." Ash grinned. "The guards caught me trying to sneak into a library."

"Ash is a genius." Jo explained.

"I had… a horrible owner. Ellen found me abandoned in the middle of the road. Took me in, brought me back to health. She was the one to introduce me to electronics." Ash's grinned only widened. "Awesome things, electronics. They have libraries where you can get information about anything that are completely online." I nodded. I'd never really been very tech-savvy. But if this guy liked it, who was I to judge?

"Now we've spilled our guts. What's your story?" Jo prompted. "And none of that 'I'm special' crud."

"Okay, but I am special. Well, my mom was caught my humans when I was eight, so I basically had to raise my little brother, Sam, by myself. 10 years later, we were going for a walk through the woods and got jumped by some humans. They captured us and sold us to some aviary. I think it was called… Roman Aviary? Yeah, I think that was it, 'cause Dick owned it. Lived there for four more years. Then I, as they put it, 'self-destructed and became too much of a danger to the other Enochians to keep.'" I shrugged. "And I admittedly did."

"Can I see your wings?" Ash asked, and I couldn't see why not. I spread them out to full length. It then hit me that I was being rude. I hadn't had anything close to friends in a long time. I could remember that, back when I was in the aviary, I would touch wingtips with those that I knew. It was like a casual greeting. Jo seemed to have thought the same, as one of her wings peeked out from behind her back and gently brushed mine, her head turned away in embarrassment.

"Sorry. I haven't met any other Enochians on good circumstances in years. And no one ever touches Ash's wings, so…" Her voice trailed off.

"Hey, it's okay. Me too." Ash was now walking around me, gently touching my feathers.

"Never seen anyone with wings this big." There was a note of awe on Ash's voice. I laughed.

"You would have loved to see my brother then. Sam had four wings." And that's how the next hour or so was spent, the three of us talking and quickly forming a strong friendship with each other.

*CASTIEL*

When Ellen returned, Emerald, Jo, and Ash weren't with her. When I asked why, she said that they needed to exercise. They weren't meant to be cooped up inside all the time. I got put to the job of rooting through the books with her and seeing if we could find any scrap of lore that could be helpful. We were already planning to bring just about everything in our arsenal; we just needed to make sure we weren't missing anything.

"So how'd you come across Dean?" Ellen asked as she flipped through some old tome. I looked up, a bit startled at the sudden conversation.

"I'm sorry, who?"

"Dean, your Enochian. I know they told you his name is Emerald, but he seems like a Dean to me." Ellen explained. "It's all up to you of course. Back to my question, how'd you come across Dean?"

"I was at a pet shop. Made a really stupid last minute purchase." I sighed. "And honestly, I don't trust Emerald, or Dean I guess. They said he had tried to escape multiple times. I figure he's waiting until my guard is down and I trust him a bit to make his move. What about you, how'd you get Jo and Ash?"

"Back when my husband, William, was still alive, we were hunting in some woods. It used to be woods, at least. A forest fire burned down the majority of it a few months ago. Anthony and I were trying to find out what had caused the fire. We believed it to be some demon. While we were going around, these Enochians dropped down right in front of us. There were two of them, both male. In their arms they were carrying this little girl. They made some noises that meant absolutely nothing to me and held her out to us… and we took her.

"We came across Ash after William had died. Jo and I were driving down the road in the middle of the night, heading to a new case. Jo saw him first since she was on top of the car. She opened her wings as a sort of emergency brake, almost flipped the car over. There Ash was, lying right in the middle of the road. Both of his legs and wings were broken, he looked like he was staved and dehydrated. So, we took him in. He's helpful for research and such."

"That's horrid. Was something wrong with him or something?" Enochians were usually treated very well. I had known a hunter or two who believed they were just another monster, but there wasn't a lot those people could do. I was shocked as Ellen shook her head.

"No. I think it was because his wings were only brown. Most times, an Enochians plumage gets a sudden spark of color when they get into their teens or so and when his didn't, well, it's like you bought damaged goods. And you can't return them."

"It's amazing that he was able to heal from such damage done to, from what I can tell, all of him. Mental, physical, emotional."

"He didn't." Ellen stopped flipping the pages, looking at me.

"What? What's wrong with him?"

"From what I can tell, he's fine both emotionally and mentally, but one of his wings didn't heal. It has this hole in it. All the veterinarians say that it should have healed. Lesser Enochians have healed form worse. But for whatever reason, Ash just won't. He'll never fly again." That's when I realized: Ellen loved those two. She loved them like they were her own kids. And not for the first time, I wondered how human Enochians were.

"Why do you keep him?" It came out before I could stop it.

"Why would I leave him?" Ellen replied in a way that said she had been asked that often. "He's more helpful than you'd think. I wouldn't give him up if someone offered me the world."

This was followed by an uncertain silence, in which I thought of other questions I could ask this woman who obviously had a good understanding of Enochians. I thought of the simple gold band I had seen on Emerald, or Dean's, hand, and carved with symbols that I couldn't decipher. In fact, when I had seen Jo and Ash, they both wore one too.

"Ellen, can I ask you another question?"

"If it stalls having to do research for another minute, shoot."

"Dean has this ring on his finger. It wasn't in the books that the pet shop gave me." Ellen nodded like she knew what I was talking about.

"Not a lot of people know about it, actually. It's called their 'Halo' and the engravings on it are Enochian. It doesn't say anything big, but the inside holds a weak luck spell along with their name and the outside says something that roughly translates to 'Never Forgotten'. All Enochians from the wild have one, and ones that were raised in captivity usually get their parent's. It has to do with what they believe. You see, they think that they are descended from actual angels. The Halo serves as a reminder of that."

"How do you know what they think?" Ellen froze for a moment, but it didn't last long.

"I went to a translator one time with the same question. He could understand Enochian and asked Ash about it." Ellen answered easily, in the way only a lie could be told. I would have to find out what that was about later.

"He just asked them? How much do Enochian's understand of our language?" I had always wondered how intelligent Enochians were. Ellen looked me in the eyes very seriously.

"Every word. As far as I can tell, the only reason they don't speak English is because they don't want to."

It was that exact moment that Rufus decided it would be a good time to come in.

"Bobby says that we should get moving now. He wants to make it to the job by the end of the week." We nodded and put some of the books into our bags, just in case we ended up needing them. Ellen went out to the back door with me following behind as she brought her fingers to his lips and gave a loud whistle that echoed across the yard. A few seconds later, Dean and Jo were seen flying to us. Ash was keeping up with them on the ground.

From there we got into the cars. Balthazar and I would obviously be taking the impala with Dean riding on top. After talking with Ellen, his gaze suddenly seemed much more off-putting, knowing that he was closer to a human than animal. Ellen, Bobby, and Rufus would each be taking their own car. Jo would ride on top of Ellen's, while Rufus had agreed to let Ash ride on his.

And then we were off, me sitting in the passenger seat while Balthazar took the first shift to drive and thinking that in the last 24 hours or so, my life had really gotten incredibly screwed as we went off on what was starting to feel like a suicide mission. The ride soon got boring and I found myself nodding off, forehead pressed against the cold glass of the window, the familiar purr of the impala's engine sending to my sleep like a lullaby while Balthazar played his pop music.

It was then that I was struck by the Nightmare.

I was running down the alley way. It was littered with bodies, none of them alive. I didn't even stop to check, though. I just knew, and even if I was wrong, I was more worried about the person at the alley than any of the nameless people around me. Her back was to me, but I would know her anywhere. I called out to her, but I had no voice. Finally, I reached her and grabbed her shoulder, turning her to face me.

"About time you got here Clarence." She smirked at me. Her hair was black, just like it used to be. Like it had been before _that _mission. Before secrets I didn't want to know were revealed. "I had to start the party without you."

I smiled; she was just like I remembered her. I moved forward, wanting to wrap her in a hug and kiss her, just like I had done that one time during our first real suicide case together, but stopped when her hair started to change. It was lightening and becoming blonde. Not blonde, please, anything but blonde. Her eyes widened and she started to couch up blood. A knife stuck into her abdomen.

And then the worst part came, the part I had avoided, the part that no one else knew about: Her face looked like it was being lit for the inside out, like any other demon's would when they were killed by the knife. I pulled her corpse, the corpse that wasn't even hers, and cried into her hair that was the wrong color. I sobbed hard, the broken and numb feeling in my chest foreign and painful. I had never loved anybody like this before, and I wasn't sure I wanted to ever again. Not if it meant having to lose them like this.

"Hey, Cassie." I was brought back to the world of the waking by a hand shaking my shoulder. I had actually been crying. I rubbed at me eyes, drying the tears from them. Balthazar was looking at me with a bit of concern. For a moment I thought he'd say something heartfelt, but then was reminded he didn't approved of 'chick flick' moments. "It's your turn to drive."

" 'Kay." I mumbled as he pulled the car over and we swapped spots. As soon as he was in the other seat, Balthazar pulled out his flask that held some random alcoholic drink. What type it was exactly tended to change often. My brother had a large drinking problem, and I can't wait for his liver to fail just so I can tell him I told him so. It didn't help that he always seemed healthy as a horse and after his 16th birthday never gotten drunk, his alcohol tolerance amazing.

As I was about to get into the driver's seat, a feather brushed me and I looked up to see Dean, head cocked, looking at me curiously. I reached out to pet his wing, but again it drew back before my hand could touch it. The one feather that had touched me had felt like silk, though, and I could only imagine what the others would feel like.

"So, um, Ellen asked me to call you Dean." I only now realized I hadn't talked to him since we had gotten to Bobby's. I saw Dean perk up at this, and I could tell he liked the idea. _As far as I can tell, the only reason they don't speak English is because they don't want to. _I wondered if he could speak English. I was half-temped to ask him right then and there. But the others were starting to pull ahead and we had a job that needed doing, so I climbed back into my seat and pressed on the gas.

I tried to convince myself that I didn't hear a whisper saying 'thank you'.


End file.
